SSR Mining Intends to Hike 2022 Dividend by 40%

SSR Mining (TSE: SSRM) announced Monday its full-year 2021 production and costs and outlook for 2022-24. SSR Mining is a Vancouver- and Denver-based producer of gold, silver, zinc, and tin that owns Argentina’s largest silver mine.

SSR Beats AISC Guidance

In 2021, SSR Mining’s four operating assets produced 794,456 gold equivalent ounces, delivering a strong fourth-quarter performance of 211,140 gold equivalent ounces and approaching the upper end of the company’s guidance range of 720,000-800,000 gold equivalent ounces. The company’s unaudited all-in sustaining costs (AISC) for 2021 were approximately $982 per ounce (or approximately $955 per ounce under U.S. GAAP), exceeding the AISC guidance range that was previously lowered to $1,000-$1,040 an ounce.

Outlook

In 2022, the company expects to maintain its strong and stable production base with consolidated production of 700,000-780,000 gold equivalent ounces at a consolidated U.S. GAAP AISC of $1,120-$1,180 per ounce. Beyond 2022, SSR Mining expects to maintain a production base of over 700,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2023 and 2024.

The company said that despite industry-wide inflationary headwinds, it intends to increase its base dividend by 40% for 2022 and will continue its share buyback program implementation in 2021.

CEO Commentary

SSR Mining President and CEO Rod Antal said, “2021 was a year of operational and financial outperformance for SSR Mining as we showcased the quality and resiliency of our globally diversified business in an inflation-challenged landscape. We successfully delivered production at the top end of our guidance range and concurrently beat our reduced AISC guidance.

“This outperformance allowed SSR Mining to generate more than $400 million of free cash flow and drove peer-leading shareholder returns of nearly $200 million over the course of the year, resulting in a 5%+ yield. We also executed a number of strategic transactions, which increased our presence in core jurisdictions while divesting non-core assets. When completed, these transactions will cumulatively realize over $235 million in total consideration for SSR Mining.”

Wall Street’s Take

On January 14, BMO Capital analyst Ryan Thompson kept a Buy rating on SSRM and set a price target of $27.00 (C$34.33). This implies 64% upside potential.

The rest of the Street is bullish on SSRM, with a Strong Buy consensus rating based on six Buys. The average SSR Mining price target of C$30.36 implies 45% upside potential to current levels.

TipRanks’ Smart Score Rating

SSRM scores a 6 out of 10 on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, indicating that the stock returns are likely to be in line with the overall market.

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